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Dana, Marcus and Priya.

We’re two music lawyers and a royalty analyst, upstairs on Waterloo Rd. Dana signed record deals as a touring bass player, Marcus wrote show offers as a talent buyer and Priya put together royalty statements at a distributor. Now we read yours.

Dana Kovach

Partner. Record deals, publishing, producer agreements and sync.

Direct line (216) 555-0141

Signed and played

  • Bass in Sister Mileage, 2006 to 2011: two albums and five US tours.
  • Bass in The Copper Elevens, 2011 to 2015: one album and two runs through Europe.
  • Signed two record deals and a publishing deal.
  • Admitted to practice in Ohio in 2018.

Rooms I’ve played

  • The Second Shift, Akron
  • Vinegar Hall, Detroit
  • The Kiln Room, Pittsburgh
  • Ferrous Hall, Buffalo

Dana reads label, distribution and 360 deals, publishing deals, producer agreements and sync licenses for film, TV and ads.

“I played bass in touring bands for nine years before law school. I signed two record deals and a publishing deal in that time, and I read none of them properly. The second label paid itself back out of our publishing money, and we found out when a check didn’t come. Now I read these deals for other people, all the way through, including the definitions at the back. I’ll tell you what each clause does and what I’d ask to change. Whether you sign is your call.”

Marcus Vela

Partner. Venues, promoters, touring, band agreements and band names.

Direct line (216) 555-0142

Booked

  • Talent buyer for a two-hundred-capacity room in Cleveland, 2010 to 2016: about 1,100 shows.
  • First Cleveland headline shows for Paper Orchard and Lake Effect Lungs.
  • Admitted to practice in Ohio in 2019.

Rooms I’ve worked with

  • Tallow Hall, Columbus
  • The Breakwall Room, Erie
  • The Low Gear, Toledo

Marcus reads show contracts, riders and settlement sheets. He also handles promoter, tour and sponsorship deals, writes band agreements and files trademarks for band names.

“For six years I booked a two-hundred-capacity room in Cleveland. I sent the offers, wrote the radius clauses and settled the door with bands at one in the morning. I went to law school because I kept watching bands sign things they didn’t understand, and some of those things came from my desk. Now I read show contracts for bands and for rooms, before anyone signs. When I write a band agreement, I sit down with the whole band, because every member should hear what it says.”

Priya Raman

Royalty analyst. Statements, registrations and audits.

Direct line (216) 555-0143

What a review can turn up

  • $38,200 in streaming royalties for a songwriter whose songs were never registered.
  • Eleven quarters of a distributor paying a band at the wrong rate.
  • A four-writer co-write registered with only two of its writers.
  • Vinyl packaging deductions taken at twice the contract rate.

Examples, not real cases. What a review finds depends on the catalog and the contract, and many find little or nothing.

Where I’ve worked

  • The royalty department of an independent distributor in Columbus
  • The accounts office of a record label in Pittsburgh
  • Upstairs on Waterloo Rd, since 2021

Priya reads royalty statements from anyone who pays you, registers songs and works on audits with Dana.

“I’m not a lawyer. I spent five years in the royalty department of an independent distributor, producing the kind of statements I now check, so I know where mistakes get into them. When I find something, Dana decides what to do about it, because that part is legal work. I also register songs. It’s slow work, and skipping it is where a lot of money goes missing. Plenty of the statements I read are right to the cent, and I’ll tell you when yours is.”

Who reads what.

What it isWho reads it
Record deal, distribution deal or 360Dana
Producer agreement or sync licenseDana
Publishing, co-publishing or admin dealDana, with Priya
Split sheet and song registrationDana, with Priya
Royalty statement or auditPriya, with Dana
Band agreement or band nameMarcus
Show contract, offer or riderMarcus
Promoter, tour or sponsorship dealMarcus

Send it to the right one of us.

Pick what you need help with when you book, and the person who handles that will call you within two business days.

Book a free call Call (216) 555-0148